German regulator urges accelerating broadband buildout

Germany’s regulator is encouraging a faster buildout of the country’s high-speed broadband network, a topic that has become a political football for Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Two smaller parties looking to form a coalition with the ruling Christian Democratic Union set a precondition that the country sell its stake in Deutsche Telekom (DE:DTEGn) (DTEGY +0.7%) and put the proceeds toward a national rollout of fiber to the premises.

The Christian Democrats instead suggested that privatization should start with the Deutsche Post (DE:DPWGn).

“We can’t delay further investments into the distant future and risk missing out on the chances of digitalization,” said Jochen Homann, president of the Federal Network Agency. The copper-based tech that DT relies upon can’t be easily upgraded further.

Merkel has discussed investing €20B into glass fiber by 2025 as part of the now-collapsed coalition talks; the CDU is now exploring reviving a previous alliance with Social Democrats.